Christian History

The first three centuries of Christianity,
as seen by religious liberals and historians

During the first six decades of the first century CE, Judaism was composed of
about two dozen competing factions: Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots,
followers of John the Baptist, followers of Yeshua of Nazareth (Iesous in Greek, Iesus
in Latin, Jesus in English), followers of other charismatic leaders, etc. All
followed common Jewish practices, such as observing dietary restrictions,
worshiping at the Jerusalem temple, sacrificing animals, observing weekly
sabbaths, etc.

Yeshua
of Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ) conducted a short ministry (one
year, in the Galillee according to the synoptic gospels; perhaps three years, mainly in
Judea according to the Gospel of John). His teachings closely matched those of Beit Hillel (the House of Hillel). Hillel was a great Jewish rabbi who lived in
the second half of the 1st century BCE one or two
generations before Yeshua's birth.

Yeshua was charged with what would be called "aggravated assault" under
today's law, for his attack on merchants in the Temple. This was apparently
considered treason or insurrection by the occupying Roman forces. (Crucifixion, when
used on a non-slave such as Jesus, was restricted to these two
crimes.) He was executed by a detail of Roman soldiers, perhaps during the springtime, sometime in the
very late 20's or early 30's
CE. Nodoby seems to have recorded the year in a way that
survived to the present time. Most historians date the event in April of
either the year 30 or 33. According to the Gospels, his disciples
initially returned to their homeland of Galilee immediately following their
leader's death.

Four decades later, in 70 CE the Roman Army attacked Jerusalem and destroyed
the central focus of Jewish life: the temple. This was an absolutely devastating
blow at the time; Jewish life was totally disrupted. Jews were no longer able to
worship at the Temple. Out of this disaster emerged two main movements:
rabbinical Judaism centered in local synagogues, and the Christian movement.

There was great diversity within the Christian movement during the first few
decades after Jesus' execution. Some of Jesus' followers (and those
who never met Jesus but who were inspired by his teachings) settled in
Jerusalem. But others spread across the known world, teaching very
different messages. "Even in the same geographical area and
sometimes in the same cities, different Christian teachers taught
quite different gospels and had quite different views of who Jesus was
and what he did." 1

During the latter part of the first century CE, the three largest groups within the
primitive Christian movement were:

Jewish Christian movement: Jesus disciples and other followers
who fled to the Galilee after Jesus' execution appear to have regrouped in
Jerusalem
under the leadership of James, one of Jesus' brothers. The group viewed
themselves as a reform movement within Judaism.
They organized a synagogue, worshiped and brought animals for ritual
sacrifice at the Jerusalem Temple. They observed the Jewish holy days,
practiced circumcision of their male children, strictly followed Kosher dietary laws, and practiced
the teachings of Jesus as they interpreted them to be. They are frequently referred to
today as the Jewish
Christians. (These should not be confused with
followers of modern-day Messianic Judaism who follow
an evangelical Christian belief system) 2

The Jewish Christians under James included many members who had had close
relationship with Jesus. They believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. They
viewed Jesus as a great prophet and rabbi, but not as a deity. There
are many references in the New Testament to conflicts between the followers of
Paul and the Jewish Christians. 8

Jewish Christians were killed, enslaved, or scattered during the Roman attack on Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Some theologians note that members of the Jewish Christian movement had a close
and lengthy association with Jesus, whereas Paul never met Jesus. In cases of conflict between the teachings of Paul and
the beliefs of James' group, the latter might more accurately reflect Jesus'
original teachings. 8

Pauline Christianity: Saul, a Jew from Tarsus, originally prosecuted the Jewish
Christians on behalf of the priests at the Jerusalem Temple . He
experienced a powerful religious conversion, after which, he departed for places
unknown for three years. Later, having changed his name to Paul, he became the
single most active Christian missionary, from about 36 CE until his execution by the Romans in the
mid-60's. He created
a new Christian movement, containing elements from many
forms of Paganism: Greek, Roman, Persian, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, etc. He included
the concept of Jesus as "The Word", as a god-man -- the savior
of humanity, who was executed, resurrected and ascended into heaven. These
additions were absolutely required if his version of Christianity was to succeed
in the Roman Empire in competition of many Pagan and Mystery Religions. Many of
the events which the Bible describes as happening to Jesus appear to have been
copied from the stories of various God-men from Egypt to India, in particular
the life
of Krishna, the God-man and second member of the
Hindu trinity. Paul abandoned most of the Laws of Moses and rejected many of the Jewish
behavioral rules that Jesus and his disciples had followed
during his ministry. Paul taught that God had unilaterally abrogated his covenants
with the Jews and transferred them to his own Christian groups.

Paul went on a series
of missionary journeys around the eastern Mediterranean and attracted many
Gentiles (non-Jews) to his movement. He was assisted by many co-workers, both
male and female. Paul organized churches in many of the
areas' urban centers, in
competition with Greek Paganism, Mithraism, Mystery Religions, Judaism,
many competing Christian movements, and other religions. His Epistles record how he
and his movement were in continual theological conflict with the Jewish
Christian movement centered in Jerusalem, and with Gnostic Christians. Paul ran afoul of the Roman Empire, was arrested,
and was transported to Rome where he was held under house arrest. He was executed
there about 65 CE. Paul's churches survived his death and flourished. Some of
his letters to various of his church groups were later accepted into the canon
of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).

Christian groups
typically met in the homes of individual believers, much like
home
churches and cell churches do today. Leaders were both men and women. There was no central authority, no standard style of organization at the local
level, no dedicated church buildings or cathedrals. The Greek words episkopos
(bishop, overseer), presbuteros (elder, presbyter) and poimen (pastor,
shepherd) were originally synonymous terms which referred to the
leader of a group of believers. Ordination of priests and consecration of
bishops was to come later in the history of Christianity. 3

Gnostic Christianity:Gnosticism is a
philosophical and religious movement with roots in pre-Christian times. Gnostics
combined elements taken from Asian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek and Syrian pagan
religions, from astrology, and from Judaism and Christianity. "Among Gnostic
Christians there were communities under the name of John and Thomas and
many other lesser and later disciples." 6 They claimed
to have secret knowledge about God, humanity, and the rest of the universe of
which the general population was unaware. They were/are noted for their:

Novel interpretations of the Bible, the world and the rest of the
universe.

Belief that the Jehovah of the Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament) was a
defective, inferior Creator-God, also known as the Demiurge. He was viewed as
fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid, lacking in compassion and prone to
committing genocide.

Tolerance of different religious beliefs within and outside of Gnosticism.

Lack of discrimination against women.

Some Gnostics formed separate congregations. Others joined existing
Pauline Christian groups. Still
others were solitary practitioners.

In addition to the above three main groups, there were many smaller religious communities,
which have been referred to as Matthean Christianity, Johannine Christianity,
etc. "Among Jews especially in the East there were Christian communities and
literature under the name of Peter and James that stood in opposition to Paul
and John." 6 Together
produced many dozens of gospels and hundreds of Epistles (letters). "Many of these
other Gospels outside the New Testament had very different views of Jesus,
produced in communities that held widely different understandings of Jesus." 7

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Second and third centuries CE:

The three groups within the primitive Christian movement survived into
the early second century. One died out and the other two expanded:

The Jewish Christian movement: The failure of the Bar
Kochba revolt (132 - 135 CE) was devastating for
the Jewish people, including the Jewish Christians. Any Jews who
remained in Palestine in 135 CE were killed, enslaved or permanently
driven from the land. The Jewish Christian movement had a brief resurgence during the 2nd
century CE, and then disappeared from the pages of history.

Pauline Christianity continued to spread across the known
world. It started to develop a formal theology, a set of doctrines,
and an unofficial canon of writings which were later to become the
Christian
Scriptures (New Testament). From the enormous supply of Christian
gospels and epistles (letters) they chose a few that more-or-less
matched the theology of the developing church. Admittance of the Gospel
of John into the official canon had to overcome a great deal of
resistance; many in the church felt that it had too much Gnostic
content. The canon accepted:

Four gospels, written by unknown authors, but attributed to
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Acts of the Apostles, apparently written by the same author as who
wrote Luke.

Thirteen Pauline Epistles -- letters which claim that they
were written by Paul. Religious liberals accept that seven were written
by Paul, one may have been written by him, and 5 were by unknown
authors -- mostly from the second century many decades after Paul's
death.

Eight general Epistles -- James, John, Peter, Hebrews and Jude, --
all by anonymous authors with the possible exception of Hebrews which may have
written by Priscilla.

Revelation, a book about apocalyptic events at the end of the world, which
was expected in the second century CE.

Gnostic Christianity consisted of many separate groups
with no appreciable central organization. Each group was under the
leadership of a Gnostic teacher like Marcion, Valentinus, and
Carpocrates. These groups shared some core beliefs, but otherwise
differed greatly from each other. The Gnostic movement initially
expanded, and at one point was the primary form of Christianity in the
eastern Mediterranean. However, due to programs of persecution and
extermination by Pauline Christians, it later went into a steep decline, and ceased being a significant force by the 6th
century.

After the deaths of the Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers were
looked upon for guidance. They included a
number of teachers and bishops: e.g. Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Origen, Polycarp, Tertullian. A hierarchical
organizational structure called the "monarchial episcopate"
then developed in which the individual
congregational leaders recognized the authority of their area bishop in matters of doctrine and faith.
There was no person or group who could speak for the church as a whole. It
was only in 325 CE that bishops from throughout the Christian movement
would be able to meet at the Council of Nicea and attempt to
start resolving differences in Christian beliefs.

References used:

Messianic Judaism, a new religious movement, is
sometimes referred to as Jewish Christianity. Their theological beliefs
match those of modern-day Evangelical Christianity, and bear little resemblance to the
Jewish Christianity of the 1st century CE. Both groups are often referred to by
the same name.